Gibraltar 03: Top matches ready!

1/31/2014 – With most of the top players in the tournament already facing above average grandmasters the event has weeded out most players with draws and only a select few remain with a perfect 3.0/3. The top board in round four will feature Movsesian vs. Vachier-Lagrave, but first round three where GM Fier was very close to winning (and to losing!) against top seed Michael Adams.

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The traditional Gibraltar Chess Congress has begun! The 12th edition of this event is under way, but the main attraction - the Masters Section, will begin tomorrow. The Masters section entries are closed and the pairings are ready for the tournament to begin.

A beautiful view of the playing site!

We can't publish too many reports on Gibraltar without a photo of the local monkeys

Round Three

The top boards of round three saw the top grandmasteres face off against 'mid-level' grandmasters, who are far from easy to beat! Only a few of the top grandmasters maintained their perfect score, although to be fair there were less upsets than one might expect considering the tough pairings they faced.

Vachier, Harikrishna, Navara, Rodshtein, Li Chao and Movsesian are the top seeds that have won all their games, but as you can see from the following results too many of these 2700 grandmasters have already dropped at least half a point.

The Governor of Gibraltar and Lady Dutton this afternoon visited the 2014 Tradwise Chess Festival at the Caleta Hotel. Sir Jim Dutton, who arrived in Gibraltar December last year, was visiting the festival for the very first time. On arrival at the Caleta Hotel the Governor and Lady Dutton were met by tournament organiser Brian Callaghan, Tamara Stewart-Wilson and tournament director Stuart Conquest. Also there to greet him were sponsors James Humphreys from Tradewise and Denis Llafferty from Saccone & Speed and Coca Cola.

The top boards feature bloodbaths for sure. Movsesian is trying to return to the 2700 club and will have the White pieces against Vachier-Lagrave. Harikrishna will try to continue the excellent form he has been showing against another Frenchman, Edouard. The Argentinean grandmaster Mareco will face the ever creative Navara while Rodsthein and Li Chao will face International Masters - however Henrichs just beat Wei Yi with Black!

Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

See also

11/28/2018 – The moment we've all been waiting for! Live games (for Premium members) from the 2018 World Championship match in London. Every two games will be followed by a rest day until Game 12 (if necessary) on November 26th which will be preceded by an additional rest day. All rounds start at 15:00 UT (London time) / 16:00 CEST / 10:00 EST. If needed there would be a rapid tiebreak match on Wednesday, November 28th. | Photos: Patricia Claros

See also

8/27/2018 – Live games and commentary from Saint Louis! Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian tied for first place, while Caruana also tied for fourth place in the Grand Chess Tour standings with Wesley So, forcing a playoff match to be held on Tuesday. | Graphic: Saint Louis Chess Club

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

"Simple yet aggressive!" Enjoy this new exciting DVD by Simon Williams. Let the famouns Grandmaster from England show you how to gain a very exciting yet well founded opening game with the London System (1.d4 d5 2.Bf4).